“No, It's Not Illegal to Photograph a House in Western Australia”
The claim that photographing someone's house in Western Australia without written owner consent is illegal has no basis in law. No such statute exists at the state or federal level in Australia.
A Widely Circulated Myth
This claim is a textbook 'weird law' myth — the kind that circulates endlessly on listicle websites and pub quiz nights without ever being traced back to an actual statute. Australia has relatively permissive photography laws compared to many other countries. Since the High Court decision in Victoria Park Racing v Taylor, Australian law has firmly established that there is no 'freedom from view' — meaning anything visible from a public place can be lawfully photographed.
What The Surveillance Act Actually Prohibits
The relevant WA legislation, the Surveillance Devices Act 1998 (WA), prohibits using optical surveillance devices to record 'private activities' without consent — but this applies to things like voyeuristic filming of people in intimate situations, not snapping a picture of a front door from the footpath. There is no 'written consent' requirement anywhere in WA law for photographing buildings.
Possible Origins Of The Confusion
The myth may have originated from a misreading of real estate or commercial photography best practices, where photographers are advised to obtain 'location release forms' from property owners before using images in advertising — but this is a commercial/contractual consideration, not a criminal law. It may also stem from confusion with laws in other countries, such as France, which has stronger property-image rights, or a garbled understanding of WA's surveillance and privacy landscape. Australia's privacy framework continues to evolve, but none of these developments create a blanket ban on photographing houses.
Where the story gets it wrong
Some believe the WA Surveillance Devices Act's ban on recording 'private activities' amounts to a general prohibition on photography. In fact, the Act targets things like voyeuristic filming of intimate situations — not photographing a home's exterior from a public footpath, which creates no criminal offence.
Some treat the real estate industry's advice to obtain a 'location release form' before using a property image commercially as a legal requirement. It is a contractual best practice for advertising use, not a law, and skipping it is not a criminal matter.
Some conflate Australia's broader privacy discourse — including drone photography rules, where filming someone engaged in a private activity can be an offence if done with unlawful intent — with a general statutory right against being photographed. No such blanket right exists for photographing houses.
No law in Western Australia or under Australian federal legislation prohibits photographing the exterior of a residential building visible from a public place. The Surveillance Devices Act 1998 (WA) restricts recording 'private activities' without consent, but a house exterior visible from a street does not constitute a private activity. There is no written-consent requirement for property photography anywhere in WA law.
- Current status
- Unknown
- Penalty
- No penalty — no such law exists.
- Jurisdiction
- Claim is specific to Western Australia, but no equivalent law exists in any other Australian state or territory either.